JOE Cardle admits Dunfermline are in unchartered territory after back-to-back defeats but insists they can bounce back from their Fife derby disappointment.

The Pars romped their way to the League One title last term but, after a narrow loss to Hibernian, suffered the bitter blow of Saturday’s 2-0 defeat away to Raith Rovers.

It was only once promotion was wrapped up and manager Allan Johnston was experimenting with his line-up that the East End Park men lost two games in a row.

But, in front of a massive travelling support of 2,519, the Championship newcomers succumbed to second-half strikes from Bobby Barr and Mark Stewart to be left with only their opening-day victory over Dumbarton to show for their efforts.

Cardle tried his best to provide a creative spark at the weekend but accepts he and his team-mates will have to regroup in time for the visit of Queen of South on Saturday.

He said: “Obviously we’re disappointed. It’s never nice to lose in a derby, so the heads are low. To lose a game is bad but to lose a game like we did is disappointing.

“We know where we went wrong and we’re really just gutted and disappointed with the result.

“Especially in the first-half we had a lot of possession but there were no clear-cut chances; we never really tested their keeper enough. There were not enough shots and the final product could have been a lot better.

“We’ve lost the last two games and I don’t think we did that at all last season. It’s a whole new level for us, so we’ve got to get ourselves together.

“We’re a strong team and I’m sure we will.

“We’ll do the video analysis on Monday morning and pick up on the things that went wrong.

“But we’ve got to remain positive. We’ve still got a strong team, with young boys, fit lads with a lot of quality, and we need to look to next week and push on.”